This proposed session for SASA 2017 pushes and pulls beyond traditional notions of the “gothic,” horror, and hauntings, instead engaging with more expansive ideas enabled by recent theorizations of undeadness. Special attention will be given to proposals that link forms of undeadness associated in some way with the American South to formulations in or across other regions and nations. What is “undead nation,” and how might we understand it in relation to undead Souths? How does undeadness migrate and circulate across regional and national frames and at the same time backlight gender, sexuality, race, settler colonialism, and more? In addition to taking up these and other questions, we invite panelists to discuss cultural artifacts from a spectrum of media including literature, film, music, comics, photography, painting, digital art, video games, and more.
Please email an abstract (250-500 words) and a one-page CV to Eric Gary Anderson (George Mason University) at eandersd@gmu.edu and Daniel Cross Turner (Coastal Carolina University) at dturner1@coastal.edu. We ask that you send your materials as an attachment and that you also copy them into the text of your message.
Deadline: September 10, 2016
SASA: March 2-4, 2017, at The College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, VA